Last weekend my son, my son-in-law, a friend of the family and I went on a camping trip along the Angelina River close to Jasper, Texas. These are primitive camping spots that can only be reached by boat - you boat in and boat out. There are no toilets, no hiking trails, and no roads.

To make life a little more comfortable, it looks like someone made a toilet out of a 5 gallon bucket. All it is - cut the bottom out of the bucket and wrap some pipe insulation around the top.

In the paper work that the state provides, they recommend digging a shallow hole no deeper then about 6 inches deep. The paper work calls this the "biological layer". Which makes sense, this is where the bugs and worms live - just under the layer of leaves on the forest floor. The paper works says to dig a shallow hole, do your business, fill the hole back up and in a few days nature will take care of the rest.

So I'am thinking, why can't these make shift toilets be used in a disaster situation? If you have a wooded area close to your home, why couldn't you use the 5 gallon bucket, dig shallow holes in the biological layer, and let nature take care of the rest?

Even if human waste is left on the inside of the bucket - its not like your going to be touching it. As long as the handle is clean, and use a little bleach from time to time, I dont see a big health issue here. Maybe leave the bucket in direct sunlight so the heat and UV rays will kill any bacteria.

Maybe even make a bucket for each family member?

If nothing else, maybe this could be a good temporary solution until a more permanent outhouse can be setup?

We've used pickle buckets for decades as toilets. We just go by a cheap toilet seat and plop it on top for a more confortable experiance. We also line the buchet with disposible bags so we can barry the waste when we are done. The bags then decompose later after we leave. Also makes it nicer than having to smell human waste while camping.

They make a snap on seat for just that purpose. I like the idea myself. The only downside I see to having some residue left behind is flies bringing it back to the food or something. Nasty buggers.

That's a good point. We use a luggable Loo when tent camping. I tend to cover it with a garbage bag after use to avoid pesky flies. I always hated going into an outhouse or portapotty and being swarmed by flies.

I've been using Homer Buckets and Black Plastic Bags on the job sight for years. They work great. Funny story though, I had a pretty big guy on the sight one day and he couldn't hold it anymore so I threw a Homer Toilet together for him, he did his business but before he got up the bucket collapsed.........You should get the visual from there.

I have a Luggable Loo seat too.. I like the 6 gallon bucket because you sit higher, closer to the height of a regular toilet.
I had to search high and low for the 6 gallon bucket but, I finally found a blue one at Bass Pro in the fishing dept.
It came with a foam pad on the lid so, it was designed to be sat on.

For any kind of makeshift or portable toilet, I recommend Bio Gel Waste Gelation. Cheap, easy, and very much a welcome sanitary aid--turns liguid into gel instantly. And don't forget the Bio Blue toilet deodorant.

They make a Luggable Loo far more pleasant and inviting.

For a kit including a ready made luggable loo-type bucket toilet, and the two bio-chems mentioned, you can spend as little as $35.00. Maybe less.

Its joke right ? i saw collapse of soviet union, and life was harsh in this time , i imagine if i could tell this idea for my family. I imagine everybody staring at me with disbelieve in their eyes, lol, my father could tell, you wanna destroy good bucket and hose because its to difficult for you to keep your ass in air, everybody could laugh, and grand father could tell, this young generation need to see war, their heads are full of rubbish.
Don`t know maybe in other side of ocean it look very ingenious idea, but for me it looks like nonsense. When hard time will come it will be no place for ideas like this
You folks made good laugh for me.
OMG no toilet paper, now we will all die, LOL

I've been using Homer Buckets and Black Plastic Bags on the job sight for years. They work great. Funny story though, I had a pretty big guy on the sight one day and he couldn't hold it anymore so I threw a Homer Toilet together for him, he did his business but before he got up the bucket collapsed.........You should get the visual from there.

Brings back nasty memories. I had that very thing happen to me many years ago. We were camping at the lake and had one of those folding potties that had a rim and you hung a plastic bag underneath. I leaned over to wipe and the damned thing let go on me.

Its joke right ? i saw collapse of soviet union, and life was harsh in this time , i imagine if i could tell this idea for my family.

That is one of the big differences between the USA and the rest of the world. Most of the people in the USA have never seen hardship. Sure a lot of people have lost their jobs, received walfare, maybe received food stamps.

But for the most part, todays youth have never seen food rationing, have never seen wide spread war with tens of thousands of people dead,,,,. I'am willing to bet there are a lot of people here in America that have never done a hard days labor.

Its joke right ? i saw collapse of soviet union, and life was harsh in this time , i imagine if i could tell this idea for my family. I imagine everybody staring at me with disbelieve in their eyes, lol, my father could tell, you wanna destroy good bucket and hose because its to difficult for you to keep your ass in air, everybody could laugh, and grand father could tell, this young generation need to see war, their heads are full of rubbish.
Don`t know maybe in other side of ocean it look very ingenious idea, but for me it looks like nonsense. When hard time will come it will be no place for ideas like this
You folks made good laugh for me.
OMG no toilet paper, now we will all die, LOL

It has been theorized that the Neanderthal species of human became extinct because they lacked to ability to adapt and improvise.

Yes, we could just run outside and drop a duece and wipe with bushes, but why? By your logic, it would make as much sense to lash a rock to a stick rather than utilize a hammer or axe...

Convenience, innovation, and the desire to improve ones quality of life are the inspiration for invention. This why vehicle tires are made with rubber & steel, rather that wood & stone.

We've used pickle buckets for decades as toilets. We just go by a cheap toilet seat and plop it on top for a more confortable experiance. We also line the buchet with disposible bags so we can barry the waste when we are done. The bags then decompose later after we leave. Also makes it nicer than having to smell human waste while camping.

I know it wasn't intentional, but I think I'm going to start calling these "pickle buckets" from now on.

That's a good point. We use a luggable Loo when tent camping. I tend to cover it with a garbage bag after use to avoid pesky flies. I always hated going into an outhouse or portapotty and being swarmed by flies.

I use the luggable loo as well in Maine but I keep a bag of sawdust to throw some into the chemical bags that go inside it. That makes a big difference when you can cover it with some sawdust.

Its joke right ? i saw collapse of soviet union, and life was harsh in this time , i imagine if i could tell this idea for my family. I imagine everybody staring at me with disbelieve in their eyes, lol, my father could tell, you wanna destroy good bucket and hose because its to difficult for you to keep your ass in air, everybody could laugh, and grand father could tell, this young generation need to see war, their heads are full of rubbish.
Don`t know maybe in other side of ocean it look very ingenious idea, but for me it looks like nonsense. When hard time will come it will be no place for ideas like this
You folks made good laugh for me.
OMG no toilet paper, now we will all die, LOL

You presume an aweful lot. Survivalists have a large segment of outdoors types. I would venture to say that a good portion, if not the majority, of us have done a lot of backpacking and camping, and none of us lugs a toilet with us. I can't count the number of times I've squatted, pinched one off, and wiped with leaves and twigs. Taking a dump without a toilet is not some long lost art that people can't do in a crisis.

And toilet paper is just a convenience. It's cheap and easily available, so why not stock up. When it runs out, we improvise. It's not the end of the world. I bet a lot of folks during the collapse of the Soviet Union improvised slit latrines and outhouses, simply for the convenience, or perhaps to shelter themselves from the elements while doing what nature intended us to do.

I guess I don't see the humor in the original post. It showed a simple method of making a convenience item. Not something that your life depends on. Maybe the problem isn't with us afterall, eh?

Its joke right ? i saw collapse of soviet union, and life was harsh in this time , i imagine if i could tell this idea for my family. I imagine everybody staring at me with disbelieve in their eyes, lol, my father could tell, you wanna destroy good bucket and hose because its to difficult for you to keep your ass in air, everybody could laugh, and grand father could tell, this young generation need to see war, their heads are full of rubbish.
Don`t know maybe in other side of ocean it look very ingenious idea, but for me it looks like nonsense. When hard time will come it will be no place for ideas like this
You folks made good laugh for me.
OMG no toilet paper, now we will all die, LOL

The place for ideas like this is BEFORE TSHTF. The time to implement ideas like this is EXACTLY WHEN HARD TIMES COME.
Makes me laugh to think your idea of toughness is hanging your butt in the air when you don't have to. Hope you got another good laugh so we can laugh at each other together. Ah, international bonding at its best.

Why prepare a latrine ahead of time? Because it is a simple thing to do with some forethought and materials gathered ahead of time and it adds a little comfort to an already rough situation.

Why not make things as easy and as smooth as you can by preparing ahead of time? If you're doing without or you're really having a rough time it doesn't make you tough, it makes you unprepared for whatever challenge you're facing. No doubt we'll all find ourselves unprepared in different ways when it all comes down, but coming together here to share ideas and knowledge now helps us to be just a little less unprepared when it really counts.

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